The Annals of the Shadow Keepers Vol 1: The Wild Ones
by Makilome
Summary: Desemond de Luna is not your average anything. A witch under the CIA's most classified unit The Shadow Keepers, she is sent to Santa Carla to salvage anything out of a mission turned deadly. The selfless act of one Lost Boy will change the fate of many when Dwayne pulls Des out of a trap & into the Pack, forever. Des/Lost Boys Harem
1. Chapter 1

**Annals of the Shadow Keepers Vol. 1: The Wild Ones**

Desemond de Luna was not your average anything. Descended from Arkon and the adopted daughter of the infamous Julian Luna, the Prince of San Francisco, she comes by her Awakening after Arkan's assassination and under Julian's guardianship is given to the Tower of Hermes at the tender age of 12. In rebellion against her Uncle she joined the armed forces, climbing the ranks at a pace unheard of for a female. Becoming Special Forces her secrets come out during a suicide mission on the borders of Iran when she is forced to use magick to kill a group of Assamites to protect her fellow soldiers. Cat being out of the bag, the military gives Des time to make peace with Julian and the haunting death of Arkan before she is sent to join a Top Secret division within the womb of the CIA called the Order of the Shadow Keepers, made up of witches, were-creatures, and other supernaturals. She is a bright star within, becoming the go to agent when missions are blown and must be cleaned up and any information salvaged till a new opperation can be set into motion and the Masquerade is kept (which in this tale reaches to all supernaturals) and stop any blood hunts that risk exposure to all their kind. One such situation pops up in the seaside tourist town in California, when a traitor and former lover within their own Order by the name of Gaiden Mose sells out their agents to an alarming group splintered off the Sabbat called Equites Novem (Knights of the Nine) made up of supernaturals drunk on their own power and hell bent on a single mission, to bring down the Fall of Man. Putting herself between a rock and a hard place she follows her orders and blasts the building sky high with any evidence of the activites conducted there before diving out of a three story window cushioned by adreniline fueled power and into a terrific storm of bullets on the outskirts of the town all to far from the safety of numbers upon the tourist filled Boardwalk. Seeing she was outgunned, out numbered, to far out for a cry of help to be reached and to little time to outrun the racing led seeking for her head, she debates how she is going to die. Whether to surrender and sue for mercy from those already infamous lack of mercy or humanity by some slim chance they would let her go, Or to go out a mortal radioactive bomb, destroying as many as she could before she died and passing this world not as a victim on her knees but as a soldier on her feet. It is at this pivitol moment that our story truly begins. When one of our beloved Lost Boys feels the life of a mate he has never met, a life he would give anything to protect though at the moment he does not know why, is about to be snuffed out. A single moment in time, a monster risks himself in a brave and selfless act, and by so doing, changes the fate of many.

Pairings: Desemond de Luna/Lost Boys Lillie Langtree/Max, Julian Luna/Hellaina Argos

Later Pairings: *spoiker, eventually Michael will regret what he attempted, especially when he gets a job at one of Julian's companies and the Kindred Prince takes the boy under his wing. He becomes fast friends with Cash and after delivering something to Desemond personally about Equites Novem movements in San Francisco, he develops one-sided feelings for her and is forced to make peace with the Lost Boys if he wants even so much as a friendship. Julian sees something of Arkon and himself in the boy and after many long conversations, he thinks about asking the Prince to embrace him into Clan Ventrue.*

Michael Emerson/Mayella Langree

**Chapter One: **Bullets Like Rain

Desemond de Luna, a rising star inside the CIA's Classified Super Natural Division called the Order of the Shadow Keepers is sent to Santa Carla after a traitor sells 5 highly trained agents, Hector Silverwind (Anubi aka were-wolf), Rayna Sciobtha (Bastet aka were-cat), Cavalier Operaio (Anubi aka were-wolf), Eisen Nikola (Bastet aka were-cat), Iselle Warren (Magus of 12th degree, Tower of Demeter) to the rising threat of the militant arm of the Sabbat (those bond together who refuse to abide by the rules of the Masquerade, insist on revelation, and retalliaction against mankind for being forced into shadows by those who are prey by their blood and forfeiture of their dominion over the world) called the Order of the Equites Novem (Knights of Nine). Seeing the mangled and tortured forms of her comrades, Des swears a blood oath of vengeance against Gaiden and all who aided them. Falling orders she blows the building holding her comrades remains along with any evidence leaking back to the CIA sky high and gets trapped between the flames and the bullets of the Were-Creatures of the seaside town who nievely sided with Equites Novem who were promised the blood of the Boys who ruled the Boardwalk. Dwayne is blindsided with fear that he was about to loose something more precious than he could put into words and races towards an active war-zone on the outskirts of the town were he spots the beautiful Desemond and pulls her out of harms way.

The most terrorfying of our race

are those with nothing left to lose

who have no regard for their life or the noose

who walk towards the barrel instead of refuse

that live in the moment of their greatest risk of pain.

They are the heros we secretly hate

because they live without fear

nothing binds them to those here

and so their actions gives them wild cheer

all the while clapping when they take on the martyrs fate.

They live in a lonely place

no heart or home to call their own

no friends to help bare the burden they carry alone

all the things the movies never show

no one to put flowers on a desitute grave.

But if one night when the bullets are like rain

and a monster has a moment of selfless action

awful fate is turned upon it's head

a curve in the plot is suddenly fashioned

And the lonely life that kills suddenly becomes that which saves.

-Bullets like Rain excerpt by Makilome

Desemond's POV

Clusterfuck didn't even begin to cover the situation she found in Santa Carla. Try complete fucking disaster! Everyone's cover was blown to Hell, the Masquerade was blown wide open, and the conspiracy theory nuts were already all over it! She wondered if they realized just how close they really were sometimes to the actual truth. Replace the supernatural with the aliens and they would be hitting things on the head! The pictures had already began circulating and by the time they had sent her for clean up things had already gone far beyond salvageable. She really hoped that heads would roll on capitol hill for this! They had lost several of their best agents to the Were Creatures of Santa Carla. At this point it was more supernatural warfare being waged and being on the clean up crew had her having a nice, lovely, big red target being painted on her back. And what does headquarters tell her? Blow everything sky high! Burn everything! Just. fucking. PERFECT! Not like the Were's didn't have snipers of their own waiting for her ass when she came to do her job!

Which brought her to this moment, with only her 38 left, one, maybe two shots left in the barrel, running like hell as the shells rained down and all around her. Though her fall had been cushioned by the small amount of chakra she used, energy was burned, energy that was needed not only for magick, but to run! It was hard to even see anything. From the moment she walked in on the horrific scene the man she once believed to be the most gentle and loving created when he sold them out sent a blinding fury so strong her tiny frame could not contain it and before she could even rig the place to blow she had split the whole place in half right down to its foundations! The 6 agents sent for this mission were not amatures! They were operatives of distinction! Highly intelligent, emotionally objective, each were highly skilled detectives as well as muscle. Beautiful, golden haired, mocha skinned and grey eyed Iselle was a deeply skilled mage. She had constant and never ending connection to the many spirit planes, contacting and commanding powerful and terrorfying beings at will. She could use her element of water with a degree of talent that made her green with envy! She could create mists at will, making herself and her team completely invisable not only to the human but even to the eye of a were of a vampire! She could drown an enemy using the water that resided inside their own body! She could bring down a flood, drive down water like a concrete wall. She had fair command over the other elements as well. She was also, like all agents, skilled in hand to hand fighting, was a crack shot, and had bomb making skills that would make any IRA member proud!

There was Cavalier, with an ego the size of Texas and a heart that was larger still! You would never guess by looking at the flame headed, onyx eyed man that he could turn into a 900 lbs solid raging mass that could pick and huck a Hummer at least 2 football fields before it reached the ground! He had just learned after a long a very painful struggle to control his shifting at will, and how to maintain some form of humanity in wolf form so that he did not loose control and cause untold death. She had worked with the man before, she knew what the scrawny man was capeable of, no ammount of numbers could bring him down on the vampire side unless they were a Methuseleh and even then he had to be caught by surprise, and with his military training, just like hers, that was pretty much an impossibility. He was far to strong and was far to good at what he did for anyone to just be able to get the jump on him and it was his very unlucky day.

And the other two, the ones she called the Terror Twins, Rayna and Eisen were ALWAYS together. Their names sent a collective shiver down the spine of the supernaturals were ever they went. Rayna was a brunette bomb shell that could drink like a man and fight even better! In fact she liked both said activities a little to much and she often would start getting whinny after they got kicked out of every single bar in the town she was in and no one was able to give her and Eisen a good fight. Reminding her that she and him were both Bastet and no mere mortal was ever going to provide them a good fight never seemed to sink in. She used to toy with the idea of sending them to Cash, her father's unoffical bodyguard and have the Gangrels give them a good run for their money so she and the rest of the Order didn't have to listen to the never ending rant from Rayna or the five year old like pout from Eisen. They did not seem it, but both were highly intelligent. Both had been on the streets of Russia from an early age, Rayna's parents being stationed as US civilians working at a military base before they were struck down by KGB when they were mistaken for spies. It was the first time she took on her form.

It was also the day she met Eisen, in humanoid catform, scared, blood stained and with no place any longer to call home. It didn't take long to catch wind of what happened and they spent a good chunk of their lives outrunning those agents, honing their skills till they had control and could shift on cue when they needed to run at speeds faster than human. This is where they also differed so greatly from their fellow Bastet. Both could take the forms of any wildcats, or take from whatever attributes to add to strength, speed, and stamina. When they were finally caught, the US military begged, pleaded, and threatened before they got their prize. And they treated them both like royalty ever since. It took Des a long time to gain their respect, and now that she had it, they were both gone. Torn apart and unrecongnizeable except for the magickal signature she placed on all agents of the Shadow Keepers Division. In their blood she knew the signs all around her and what they had been meant to do. It was something Gaiden had once brought up as a theory to the Division and all, her uncluded was revulsed!

For years the chestnut haired, hazled eyed beauty she once loved though now she looked on it he was to beautiful to be handsome, to appeal as a man should, had been working on a spell that was pure black magick and dabbled in necromancy. It was the ability to take a supernautral at the point of death and use the seals of the Seven Hellish Princes summoned by their ancient names and have them blend and infuse thier demonic power into the ebbing life flow of the dieing being, turning it into a supernatural slave, a walking weapon with no sense of self, a creature only on the most basic of levels, with no will of its own and served whatever the caster's wishes were and giving the caster absolute control. It was a violation of the greatest and most important laws of magick, never, EVER take away someone's free will! The ritual he created was merciless in it's brutality and intentionally painful, that the person be so blinded by it that they did not know and could not oppose what was being done to him or her. Thankfully, even in their final moments the agents here were to strong for Gaiden. Even as the pain went beyond what their bodies could bare, they reached out to the planes Iselle called and were pulled up before they could be turned into puppets.

She shook with rage, desperately holding in the howling, the animal sound inside her that begged to be unleashed! She knew better, to let out the Dragon would be like sending out a honing beacon, and she was far to smart to think that no one knew she was here. A clever mage, Gaiden knew whom they would send and more than likely used the opportunity to try this barbaric ritual again to also set a trap. But there was nothing she could do about that. She had her orders and she had to make sure that nothing of this place and what went on behind these four walls ever got out. She had a small chance if she could create enough of an explosion to get police attention. Not that she had much faith in them. But there were others that might notice. Others who ruled this city like immortal gods who would not like others creating undue attention on their turf. Others like the infamous Lost Boys, who had caught her eye the second their bikes roared on the boardwalk. The ones she knew watched her every move, and had since she had arrived at the Comic Shop of the two amature Hunters, trying to hide their grins and choking on laughter when she plugged them for information on those far worse that the Lost Boys they thought were so horrible.

But right now, all she could feel was her Dragon's Fire. All she knew was the burning, the searing rage, anger unlike anything she had known in a long while. It was the rage that Awakened her when she was far to young. When the news had come of her ancestor, that ancient and powerful vampire who's name commanded respect and terror in every corner of the globe, the honorable Senator of Rome who had debated emperors and rode with the legions into wars in Gaul, Arkon had been assassinated. She never knew how he had managed it, but Julian had come in person to collect her and tell her of his assassination. She had managed to send him flying through a 20 story window to the street below, that first time she could give real meaning to the stories Arkon told. She never doubted him, but seeing it was something else entirely. And that show of power now brought her here, full circle. And she couldn't give them the proper barriers she could Arkon. There would be no placing flowers anywhere near this place. The grief coursed through her veins, cold hot, cold hot, ice and fire. The place where it split trembled with every breath she drew in and blew out. When she had enough to be able to do what she had come to do, She emptied out the contents of the bag and began her work, not even stopping to say a blessing for the dead. There was just no time and each second she took was another liability she could not afford. She worked quickly, having to burn more chakra still as she moved faster than a human.

Every beam had an explosive, and each explosive was connected to the center bomb, powerful enough set at full to level a building incased in steel, to level a deserted block and with luck, catch the attention of the populace. She didn't really believe she was going to make it out, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to try! She focused on nothing but her work, finishing wiring all the smaller devices to the larger one before snapping the wires. More power, she ran at high speed and dived out of the third story window, tucking her body close and turning into a roll on the way down, head tucked down into her legs tight and painfully, using her healing and shielding power to keep her from feeling the full brunt of the fall. She rose, not risking the weight of the many guns she usually belted on her. As soon as the building blew she had heard the first shot. It had almost grazed her left shoulder but this one time her small size had been a life line. The first cover she found was behind an abandoned SUV that had been taken apart piece by piece so the parts could be sold on the black market. It was to bad that was not the worst of the crimes that took place in this town. She made damn sure to leave a trail, having a recorder on her that would be found on her body by the next person sent.

Julian would come, she knew that. The Prince of San Francisco could not stand back and let a traitor like Gaiden endanger the Masquerade. A blood hunt would be declared and then there would be no place he could hide. He really should have paid more attention to the things she had told him! But the thought angered her. She was NOT going to let Julian take her vengeance from her! She used a hunting knife even as she flew towards a small patch of brush. Weak cover but it was something and it hid her form better and muffled the sound of her breathing. The knife cut cleanly into her palm, making her wince as the blood bubbled up. Smell be damned! She squeezed it and said "Horus, god of vengeance, I swear on this blood, the blood of Rome, the blood of Arkan, the blood of the witch of the Order of the Shadow Keepers, on my blood, the witch of Dragon's Fire, on my name Desemond Bianca de Luna that I will find Gaiden Mose wherever he hides, whatever place he lays his deceitful head, anywhere he seeks haven, I will find him! On my blood I will avenge the bloodshed of my brothers and my sisters in the same coin he paid them!"

Even as she finished she could feel the bodies rushing towards her, the were-creatures of the Equites Novem moved like trolls instead of the animals whose forms they took! Weighted down by heavy artillary, like she was a militant group within Al-Queada or the Taliban instead of a single woman with no energy left to spare to sling the mojo like she could had she been able to sleep durring her flight instead of spend each waking hour going over and over the details of the mission, when Gaiden had acted, who had he interviewed, what information was given when and to who, what intell if any they had on these Knights of the Nine. She was able to pick off her would be attackers one by one, giving her a brief bubble to move towards a vehicle, duck, and fire a shot off at the balcony of a highrise motel and send one of those bastards to stupid to realize he could have lived if he remained phased crashing to the pavement below. She smiled at the red that now splattered about him on the pavement. It was a far better look for such a brainless goon and he got a better death than he deserved. He deserved to die on his knees!

She knew her chances of survival but she wasn't going to go down by dropping to her knees and begging for mercy! She would be no one's victim, if she had to go down, she would do it like an agent of the CIA, not a civilian! She made sure to leave enough information, enough of the sounds on bits and pieces of conversation shouted out from behind covers and over roof tops behind for the agents they would send in behind her. The special team would be sent, she was sure of it. They would need the very best in the business to cover up what had taken place here so that the other supernaturals of the area didn't decide to lose their collective minds and put the already indangeroured populace of the seaside town into even more danger! She had another close call and was forced to conjer all her speed and let herself be seen in the open before she dodged behind a palm tree, just managing to get behind it when a bullet flew by where her head had been. She looked up to the top of another highrise hotel balcony were they now seemed to start climbing to to get a better range of an area that a trained military woman like her would know how to use and took aim, blessing her shot in the dark as she fired and the man fell several stories onto the concrete street below. She drove on, looking to get onto the Boardwalk so that there would be more witnesses. Even though her chances were slim to none to making it there.

A sound close by distracted her, so loud that it made her head pound after the barrage of weapons that had been fired at her for over an hour now. It was very dinstinct, it was the sound she had heard when she first arrived to the town, belonging the the infamous boys that ruled the Boardwalk at night. Boys she had left alone, as they were not involved with her mission and had done nothing to warrent the concern of her people. Her vision was blurring but her gift was still quite clear. She heard a very dinstinct and powerful voice inside her mind. "_Look up!"_ It was urgent, and so strong she couldn't ignore the command, and obeyed the voice, looking up. Sure enough, it was indeed one of them. His pale skin marked him out like a beacon, she wondered how anyone could mistake this one most of all as human. He was simply to pale and to perfect. His dark hair was whipped around in the wind coming up from the sea. The cliche of the prince come to save the dasmel was not lost on her but beggar's couldn't exactly be choosers when a savior comes along to pull your ass out of the fire!

"_Come on, run, you can make it!" _Once again she was compelled to listen to that voice. She came out from her cover, running faster than she ever had in her life. The small dip allowed her to duck and cover when more bullets came around her. If she wanted to get the bitch seat behind him and get out of there she was going to have to make a jump for it. _"Can you do a grab and go?"_ she asked silently. She sent images of what she meant to him. He didn't speak, only nodded his head before he ducked when more bullets flew over him. _"You better do what you are planning now. I don't favor the idea of pulling bullets out of me for the rest of the evening!"_ he replied. Nodding and not even knowing if he caught it, she got up from her place on the ground and jumped on as he revved the engine, holding his place there by long legs and vampiric strength alone. He caught her with one arm, and helped her straddle on to the bike and then wrap her arms around his waist before they sped off. As they dodged and weaved, things got less and less heated as they grew closer to the Boardwalk.

"_Feel like commenting on how it is you knew were I would be, let alone that I would be able to hear you and respond?"_ she said, not with wheels turning in high gear at the motives of her unlikely savior and just why he had been there and pulled her out. _"Supernatural beings tend to know their own, don't they? Besides, you have left us alone and tried to keep people away from knowing what we are. We owe you one save."_ it was very common sense. A very logical answer. She also knew it was complete bullshit. _"I can read others alot better than that so do me the favor of not blowing smoke up my ass! Now how did you know I was there?" _she demanded. She was shocked at her own reaction to his laugh, pulled in instead of pushed away, and pulled in rather strongly. She knew that vampires could attract their prey, but that did not generally work on witches like herself. So something else was going on. Something that the other vampire may not even notice was happening. It looked like it would be time to hit the books after she returned to DC. She wouldn't be able to sleep until she had this strange reaction and pull towards this undead figured out.

It was besides the point that he was blindingly gorgeous and had far better control over himself than the rest of the men he ran with. Collected, calculating, and intelligent wrapped up in a damn fine package with a little mystery and darkness thrown in. Most of the female population was interested! There was something more going on, she could feel it, and she had learned long ago to trust her instincts. _"You have alot of guts, do you know that? There are not many who would speak as you have after they really knew what we are and what we can do. But as you will. I had no idea what I felt, but I was drawn to where you were. It was a feeling to strong to ignore. Like I might lose something precious if I did not move, fast. And so I followed, and there you were. I had seen you around. The same who had been asking about the Weres and a name, something Latin. I don't really know why I felt willing to risk myself to save you, but there you are."_ she smiled. Now he was being honest! And it gave her more information. There was certainly more going on! And she had the feeling that he wouldn't be letting her off, just because they had reached the Boardwalk. He too wanted to know what was going on, and was not likely to let her out of his sight until he did.

He did stop the bike, but that was when the others came into view. The three blondes, the partier, the leader, and the curly haired one that looked like he belonged in a Anne Rice novel. Some how he reminded her of Armand. "And so I am introduced to the rest of the band of Merry Men? Or is it Unmen?" she quipped, right there on the spot. The curly haired one smiled like the Cheshire cat and shook his head. The partier snorted and put an elbow on the leader. "Evening witch! How are the Weres this fine evening?" she gave him both a smile and a deadly glare. "Dining on that rare dish, rather raw, of their own entrails. Well, those that are not barbaqued properly on the outskirts of this fine town. Be careful, I don't think you have developed a taste for lead." he choked before he barked out into laughter. There was a gleam in the leader's eyes when he looked at her, and he looked only at her eyes. "Any explanation as to how and why one of us could not resist pulling you out?" there was a grovel to that voice, and a warning. There was more to him than there appeared and being reckless was not really an option at the moment.

She let the sarcastic comments on the tip of her tounge fade. "If I had an explanation, believe me, I would be analyzing it within an inch of its life. I had a job to do in a clusterfuck of a situation left me. Now I have to manage to contain the area and make sure the Weres don't cause the town's supernatural habitants to lose their collective minds! I wasn't exactly expecting to be pulled out. In fact when I heard the bike, I was deciding on how it was I was going to die. Whether to go out begging, or go out with the dignity of a soldier, fighting, not on my knees. I chose the former. I do not know what drew him there, and neither does he. I asked. You don't intend on letting me out of your sight until we find this out are you?" she asked. "You catch on quick. I am sorry, but you are going to have to sit tight. But don't worry, none of us are going to stop you from doing your job. However we are going to find out what that job is." and now it was her turn to laugh! "You have fun with that! The best place to start would be a name I would imagine. Mine is Desemond, Desemond de Luna. You can call me Des." she replied, feeling smug.

The others errupted and even her dark haired, lovely savior cracked a amused smile. The leader held his hand out. "David." he said. He had a knowing look on his face. "This is not the first time I have heard your name." She wasn't going to spend a night talking into the wee hours about what she did or did not know about the Prince of San Francisco, she was exhaused, she stank, and she wanted the blood off of her, all the more so that she knew she had a group of powerful vampires who were not just going to let her be off on her merry way, not that she could anyway. Before David he could introduce the others they acted. The partier took a spot in close. "Name's Paul, and I must say that you are a rather delicous witch if I ever saw one." she smirked. All the more so when the other one said "Name is Marko, and he hasn't seen another one." she shook his hand while snorting. She turned to face the vampire who saved her, who suddenly didn't look anywhere but at her. But instead of being on guard like she usually was with that gaze, she felt at peace. She couldn't put a finger on it. She met him a few seconds ago and she knew already he could be trusted with her life. There was an idea in the back of her head, already half developed. Just by talking to them she saw just how much in contol of themselves they really were. Alot more than they were given credit for. Not many vampires could live in such a bustling city without massacring the entirety of the population. It was a constant, and probably painful temptation.

The dark haired Savior took her hand and unlike the others, he kissed it and sent shivers down her spine, shivers that under regular circumstances she could easily hide. Not the first time a vampire had tried to charm her by a long shot. But there was something about this one. It was setting her more and more on edge by the minute. "Name is Dwayne. I know you have work to do, and as it has nothing to do with us, we are not going to stop you from doing it. We don't want anyone who shouldn't be snooping around here anymore than you do. But you will be seeing me again, soon." his eyes were dead serious and she was not in the least frightened by what they seemed to promise. She couldn't go anywhere anyway until clean up was complete. And she needed time to get back, think through the idea now burning at the back of her mind. These men had more to them that this town let them indulge in. The meaninglessness of the constant party was starting to get even to Paul. There was a deadness in their eyes that she had been trained to read that others would never notice. It may be that she could give them something to wake for at night. With the increasing problems across the globe and the growing darkness invading even former remote regions, it might be time to think about recruiting some darker and stronger individuals into the fold.

Dwayne's POV

She hadn't noticed that he had watched her go. That from the moment he caught sight of her he had been watching, through his own eyes, through those of others. Even covered in the dirt, sand, grime and blood she was beautiful. And everyone they passed by on the bike noticed. It was the body women would gleefully committ murder for, the perfect hour glass with powerful abbs that streched across a long torso that begged to have fingers trail along, even the victous scar that looked like a rugged blade that ran long below the belly button. Her chest was generous and he was rather amazed she could move the way she could and not get hurt or slowed down. Wide hips that swayed slightly as she moved, through no thought or effort of her own. She was just naturally a sensual creature, one that had no need of practice or addition of artifical art. Her eyes were like the color of the ocean on a stormy day, deeply blue, with bits of near violet, hints of dark green and turned a certain shade of dark grey when seen in certain lights. Her hair was long, long and thick, reaching just above her elbows and was dark, a deep chestnut brown that shinned in the light and flecked hints of red.

Wavy all the way down, smooth but with definitive curl that spiralled here and there, drawing in the eye. Though tiny her legs defied it, long and toned, the look of someone used to having to go long miles with no letting up. He watched every single step she took till she was out of sight. He didn't follow her. He knew she would know if she was being tracked, it was more than obvious that she had military training. It made him wonder what it was she was doing here that involved the Weres. A witch with a mission with the ability to shoot and keep her head under threat of death, she wasn't exactly the typical young woman you would find on the streets of Santa Carla. She could handle herself. And she was careful to not get to close to the locals, sticking only to the job she had to do. And if that job moping up a disaster... he needed more information! He wasn't going to keep her from completing her mission, but he wasn't going to stand back either. The fire had already begun, there was no putting it out now. He simply wasn't going allow for her to be killed, and if that meant she had to be turned and they had to keep her higher ups from knowing, then so be it. He couldn't say it would be a bad thing if they had to leave anyway, with Max losing his mind over a human woman!

He knew that this plan of his was crazy, and unlike David, he had no fear in telling him so! A relationship built on lies and violence was like walking on thin ice. Eventually, the thin veneer is going to crack and you are going to go down. There is no reason to go across when you can walk around it. He talked to David about Michael. He had been watching him, especially with Star. Star who had caused more head aches then he cared to think about. She certainly was nothing like the woman he saved! She did not have her courage, her recklessness with her own life. She would do anything to get out of her bond to Max and David, and anything was becoming more desperate by the day. She would use Michael to get out of the fold, of that he had no doubt at all. He was a ticket out. A ticket he told David he needed to let her take. She was no fit mate for him. And she had no love for him. Anymore than Lucy was meant for Max. He knew what those who were to be your mate were supposed to feel like. It's a undeniable connection, a overwhelming pull that once felt, there was no escape. A mate was the one person that would mean anything to a vampire.

They were all things wrapped in the form of a living being. And they were fated. Unlike mortals, all those chosen to be embraced became vessels for fate. And whether their mates were human or otherwise, and most often it was the otherwise, it is something that is meant to be. Star was not that for his leader, and Lucy was not for Max. They were a distraction at best and a threat at worst. As dull and pointless as this life had become, he didn't want to lose it because Max couldn't handle being alone and so decided to force matehood on the first woman to give him a hard on in a hundred years! It made finding out more about Des that much more important. She could very well be the key of getting out of a situation destined to go badly. There was no other way forcing someone to become a half could go! The anger felt from having their choice taken away would drive them to destroy the source of their unhappiness. And whether David wanted to recongnize them as a threat or not, the Frogg brothers already caused them enough problems!

He remembered that the first time they had saw her, she had been harassing and manipulating the self styled "defenders of the American way" like that wasn't cliche as all hell, for information about the Weres. She had made them shit their pants when they realized that maybe the Lost Boys were not the biggest of their problems! That's what happens when you try to play in a game to big for you, if you are lucky! They certainly hadn't tried anything with them since then! Maybe she would have the same affect for their situation. Talk David into letting go of Star, and stopping this stupid plan from even going ahead! But Max was not as reasonable as David, who was always willing to at least listen to logic. He hated to think it, but the Maker had been nothing but dead weight for the last decade. He had lived to long past his own time, and couldn't seem to adapt to the time which he lived in anymore. To save themselves and to stop Max from bringing them all down with him because of his impulsiveness they might have to turn on the one who created them. It was time, perhaps, that they sought for freedom.

His leader walked up to him. "There is a connection between you and her. Everyone here felt it. We must do everything in our power to find out what that is. Until then, spend as much time with her as you can. I have a feeling about her. She is meant to be something good for us." having the same ideas, Dwayne turned around and faced him. "I had planned to. I happen to like her. She is strong and intelligent, and her knowledge could be of aid to us. She also has no ax to grind against us, unlike some. She won't knife us in the back the first time she has a chance, like Star. I think we all need to get to know Des. And we need to spend more time thinking about what our priorities are. Star is not your mate, you know that, deep down. And this thing with Michael and Lucy will destroy us. It's a plan destined to fail in it's simplistity and not to mention it could bring a blood hunt down on all of us by breaking the Masquerade! You know it goes against our laws to turn someone without their knowledge! Max is losing his head and he is going to get us all killed. We can't afford to just take his orders blindly. Not this time!" and for once, David did not get angry or defensive when he brought it up.

"I've been thinking on it. Don't think I haven't noticed how Star looks at us. That calcutlating look in her eyes. That very telling way she drew in that boy into her web, like a black widow spider catching a fly. And you are right. She is not my mate. She isn't the one I've seen in my dreams." and Dwayne nodded. No, the woman in his dream was a rare, powerful, and blindingly gorgeous woman that moved with a grace that could only belong to what were once called paladins and were now given the title of Hunters. And that was very telling about where their future lied. It told them that it was time to change direction, drasticly. And if David ever wanted to even meet his beautiful dark headed Hunter, they needed to get in with Des and get on the right side of the supernatural war that got closer and closer to the brink everyday. An old aquaintance use to call it being a white hat. "No, she's not. Which tells us one thing. It's time to free ourselves from Max, and to follow Des to where fate is leading us to be. It's time to let go of the meaningless constant party that all of us don't even have our hearts in anymore and make our Unlives mean something again." he got the feeling that David wasn't saying something again when he mentioned his dreams.

It was stronger in that moment then it had been before. "David?" he asked. "I don't just have dreams for myself, Dwayne. Do the words Knights of the Nine mean anything to you? Because we are being led on a path to where they are going to mean something, and soon! And it is not good. And that woman..." Dwayne's eyes glued onto David's. "What about her?" he demanded, the strange feeling of defensiveness bubbled up in him on her behalf, something he wondered at. "I've seen her before, Dwayne. You are right, she is a part of this, whatever it is. And so we need to put Max's plan on hold at the very least till we know what it is she is meant to be to us." nodding, his mind went into hyperdrive. Desemond was the new enigma that would plague his daytime dreams for a long while. The other boys joined, having hunted while they talked. Paul's arm hung around his shoulder. "I must say, that was one Grade A quality babe! I don't think she'll ride bitch again though. She is more the kind who will demand one of her own!" his comments made him chuckle. Leave it to Paul that even at moments like this was thinking with his cock.

"She is more than that. I like her. She is strong and she has no fear, like she was crafted to be one of us before it actually happened. I wonder how many victims she has, because I am willing to bet that it rivals any of our body counts!" he almost choked at how close Marko was coming to hitting the mark. It was also a dig at Star, whom he had never really approved of. They made it back to the bikes and made their way back to the cave, and he couldn't help the small smile remaining on his face. This night had caused a turning point in their existance, he could feel it! The fact that David was finally willing to see what Star was and wasn't meant that he could be reasoned with on more than just that ill fated relationship. Their endless nights of the Boardwalk and the bottle were coming to an end, and another, far more action filled part of their existance was opening. Something that could very well have them wearing white hats themselves, standing against the force that said Star accused them of being. The truth was the girl had no idea just how good she had it and that all and all, there were alot worst than them out there in the world.

Each had to make the decision on their own, but Dwayne's was already made. He wasn't going to stand by Max and let him destroy them all. He was going to find out what Des was, and then he was going to join her profession, and if the others were smart, and David ever wanted to find his Hunter, they would make the same decision.


	2. Pick a Cover, Win a Fight

**Chapter 2: **Pick A Cover, Win a Fight

Using a long and legendery cover as the Were-Cat Gia Merroe, Des is tracked down by a watching Dwayne who seeing a threat in the many gun men on the floor of the Equites Novem inserts himself in to make sure she gets out alive. It provides the opportunity for him to create his first cover, and gives him a much better idea of who and what the woman he was so drawn to is.

For she is a Lady of the Night

the wearer of a thousand masks

never deviating from her task

to live she has to run a thousand times fast

wear a cover,pick a fight.

Never say quit or die

Live in the fast lane of the quick and the dead

or be run over, pumped full of led

paint yourself the target to protect the blissfully ignorent

He won't let her just be a throw away so he cast in his own die.

- excerpt from The Silver Blade by Makilome

Dwayne's POV

He and Marko had been tailing her. Almost every time she caught them, a sarcastic wave here, an amused smile there. Always some hint that she saw them. On some level it gave him a sense of relief. If she could acknowledge them, she was not in any danger. He kept thinking back to when he grabbed her and how close she came, and he was beginning to understand just how reckless with her own life she really was. If he didn't think she wouldn't come murder him in his sleep, he would find a way to contact Julian and get him to yank her out of that life! This night was one of the reasons he wanted desperately to get on speaking terms with the Prince of San Francisco! It was an open, outdoor bar out on the beach, one where any decent shot had many opportunities to take out their prey, and where many predatory supernaturals did exactly that! And they were crawling around like flies tonight! He could smell the gun metal and gun powder where they hid them under flimsy and very unconvincing clothing. He caught a glimpse of her chestnut hair, sitting at a table alone with a bottle of Scottish Whiskey and a shot glass.

He made him forget the fact that it was an incredibly sexy sight to see a woman who could knock back three shots of the bitter liquid without one cringe and without even a sign a vampire could pick up on of being the slightest bit tipsy! She took longer to drink the third, alerting him to the fact that this was no casual visit. Especially not without how her eyes descretly scanned the crowd. He had been around long enough, watched enough busts to know when someone was on a meet! And if these were the same bastards who tried to take her out, the stakes couldn't possibly be any higher! He growled with a loud annoyance when one of the comic book idiots appeared and started his speal. The man was going to blow her cover! He saw when she was spotted, the Weres moving in packing their heat while a dark haired, well dressed business man wearing sunglasses spotted her and wore a smile that made him feel internally sick. It was the smile David wore before they dove in for the kill. Not catching the hint, the Frogg brother wouldn't leave, and was looking to create a scene.

He wanted to know who and what she was, so now was a good a time as any to dive in! He didn't even think about it, silently telling Marko to close in and take a spot at the bar, he was going to insert himself into Des' cover. His brother had been highly amused and a bit excited. They didn't do anything like this before, he himself couldn't help but be pulled in by the adrenaline. Time to don the hat of the Hunter he was! He walked up slowly, wearing a casual smile and enjoyed seeing the Frogg go paler than a sheet! His hand went to the middle of her back on the back of the chair. He bent and kissed her cheek, a warning glance sent to the Frogg. "Sorry about the wait my dear, I was otherwise occupied." he said. She gave him a look over her shoulder and a slow, knowing smirk that made him slightly crazy and a little insensed. "I do hope your hunt was sucessful." she said while he took the seat right next to her and pulled in close, hand never leaving its place. It was a comment directly meant to be heard from their scene causing problem child. And it worked it's magic, with a glare that if worn by any of his brother's would mean someone's death the boy stormed out. She let out a loud laugh and he wore an amused grin.

"So you are up for a little excitement on this fine evening?" she asked pointedly with a knowing look. "What can I say, I am always up to try something new. Everyone should try things at least once in life." he bit off, finding that inspite of the very real danger he rather enjoyed the banter and her complete lack of fear. It gave her a freedom that many a female did not share and made her a little wild. Which was why the others had taken to her so easily and agreed so readidly with David to keep her close. Well that and Paul being the perv he was couldn't take his eyes off her ass or her tits, depending from what angle he was watching, for five seconds or any time long enough to focus on what his actual task was! "Interesting point of view! Perhaps I should join one of these hunts!" and all the sudden he found his own self falling into Paul's trap! It was just the visual, so beautiful and covered in crimson of her prey... His voice dropped an octive and became very low. "I think you should. You might like it!" and he didn't resist the urge to run a hand along the soft skin of her exposed arm, enjoying it's softness and it's warmth. She had spent time in the sun today! "You know, you may be right." her eyes lit up, he could litterally feel her increasing heart rate, the excitement he knew very well. It was that of the predator closing in on it's unwitting prey and it was intoxicating him faster than the shot she just slid!

"_He's coming! Improptu lessons start now, Native! Pick a cover, help me win a fight. You seem already in the pervy sort of mood, so pick a name and do your best impersonation of Paul!"_ she said silently. Laughter bubbled up, he just couldn't help it so she leaned her head in like they were sharing a private joke. _"Name is Dorian Knight, and what is yours, beautiful?" _he couldn't help it, she was just so playful and it was so easy to enjoy the game when a fellow hunter of her caliber was there to share it with! _"Name is Gia Merroe, the Hellcat of Detroit. Nice to meet you, Dorian the Were-Wolf of St. Louis. How's the pack? Make any recent scores of fine artillery lately?"_ and he finally raised his hand as the business man took a seat across from them and inserted it into hers, squeezing it once to let her know he knew the stakes and was a great player, when need be. A wide smile crossed her face as he took a seat and she reached out and over the table, patting him on the arm in such a familiar way that he bit down his hardest on a growl. He questioned himself at the possesive action but came up with no answers other than she was marked as One of the Pack already. "Knox! It has been far to long since Detroit! How the hell are you?! Rack and the Boys?" she asked in an excited and fond tone.

Apparently Gia had a history with this particular mark. Which would make it all the better when they got to take the slick and greasy bastard down! He wore a shark's smile with a wandering eye that had him wanting nothing more than to jack him in the jaw here and there! Des was not a piece of meat! His gaze slowly took in Dwayne, and the fact that he was holding "Gia's" hand. Using her advise, he imitated one of Paul's signature smiles, the one that made everyone feel like they were part of the gang. Part of his easy going nature that made him such a good hunter. Prey were attracted to those who looked fun and felt safe. "I see you are running in new crouds lately Gia. Finally falling for a local?" he asked curiously. She let out a bubbling, carefree laugh. She smacked him gently. "Oh Knox darling, you'll always be my first love! Don't be jealous now! This is Dorian Knight, we met in St. Louis. You remember, my man with the plan? Managed to salvage a deal gone bad and got me my guns and my money? Well, turns out he is a hell of alot of fun and has become invaluable to my opperations with his contacts. We have bonded over common interests." to help her sell the pervy innuendo she was going for, he raised up her hand and gently sucked on the pulse point between the thumb and the forefinger, which to his satisfaction, had her let out an involuntary mew and annoying his new mark.

To his credit, Knox hid it better than most mortals would have, under a good natured and indulgent laugh. A business opportunity was more important than his own desires, and he was now part of something far bigger than himself. THose were his thoughts as he reigned in his own baser instincts. "Ah yes, now I recall!" his gaze now blatently ingaged in a friendly staredown, which being the predator he was, Dwayne won easily. "So you are the famous Dorian! I owe you thanks, Gia is invaluable, I wouldn't do anything or make a move without including her. She dearer than my own sister! And certainly more loyal! We all could always use more friends, especially loyal ones, and Gia inspires such loyalty!" it was another comment with hidden meaning that had him wanting to rip his throat out. Instead he gave Paul's smirk and slight shift in his eyes of when something darkly amused him. "She does, for she is the most beautiful of the fairer sex. Such beauty demands loyalty by default. She has never had much need to resort to violence. Althought when she does..." he let himself slowly and appreciatively take in her figure with a slow smile packed full of naughty thoughts that earned him a playful slap to the back of his head. "Public place Dorian! A little discretion please!" she scolded lightly. "Oh don't be that way Gia, man can't help himself!" Knox lightly defended.

"I don't think any man in his right mind could!" Dwayne threw in, finally setting the other man at ease, his stance became relaxed and his men began to disperse into the crowd and order their own drinks. "Now that I can readidly agree with! Don't be to hard on him. I am sure he intends to make it all better later!" he said with a leer while they all laughed. "But to business darling! Things have been picking up for me. I got a in on a new and loyal local group looking to buy. I heard you were in town and told him in the cause for us Weres, there is no better soldier or gun runner than the Hellcat of Detroit! The leader is very interested and wants a meet. So have you had any interesting shipments of late?" he said. Dwayne became very aware suddenly of how good this man was at his job. "In fact Dorian here has just come in to some rather lovely peices from his boys in his hometown. Comes from a job done in New York of conviscated weapons out of the Middle-East. What kind of pieces should we be thinking about? And you know the price is high, things are not as good as the good old days." she had a sad look on his face and Dwayne was rather impressed with the character she created. Knox gave her a look of sympathy. "Don't worry Hellcat, all that is about to change, real soon! You are about to be put back in the forefront, where you belong! My boss understands the prices you are going to have to ask for." she looked up with interest and Dwayne followed her lead.

"Something going on with our Cause here in Santa Carla?" he asked. Knox gave his new friend a wide grin. "Indeed! THe shadow war is about to spill over, and soon we will nolonger have to hide in the shadows! Which brings me to our hardware. I am very happy to hear about the score from the Middle-East. That is just the kind of art my boss is interested in! How long will it be before you can manage to smuggle it inland?" he asked. He laughed along with her. "Oh Knox, you know me to well, you know that?! It will be a few days. There has been a little heat after that building exploded the other night. I have to wait for the police activity to die down in the more dead and unchecked part of town." he bit down real hard on a laugh! He saw Marko choke before breaking down into tipsy giggles at the bar at her antics. "Perfect! That's just what I was hoping to hear! I knew I could count on you! If you do not have any plans, you and Dorian here should come out and be merry with us on Friday. Everyone would be delighted to see you again, Hellcat!" he offered. She looked over at Dwayne and gave him an raised eyebrow. He fought a smirk to keep with his roll. "I'm in, I'm in, don't crucify me babe, then you won't get to those other activities you enjoy so much!" another thunk to the back of his head before she turned back to the sleaze. "Looks like we're on, Knox! Tell the boys it's bbq or I'll eat them instead with Kansas City Misquete!" she said with a long laugh. He couldn't help it, once again, it was just the image! Tiny Des taking dainty bites out of a 900 lbs were!

Whatever the cover Gia Merroe was, Knox took the threat VERY seriously leaving him with questions he wasn't quite sure he wanted the answers to. And because he didn't, what he already knew of her showed that he would be getting them, in DETAIL! As Knox began to get up and kissed her hand the minx had the nerve to say "_Scratch and snif!"_ with a image of a killed were and a hunt knife and a whole lot of skinning and artful if not so gruesome cutting of that one and the one next to her with a man with chestnut hair staring at her bloodied form with a lust that made his stomach turn and sent his beast to the fore to destroy anything that touched what belonged to them! A cool hand slid down his hair and forced him to look at her. "Control it Dwayne! If you want a part of this, there are lessons you have to learn. Lesson one is create a cover, and then control your beast from destroying it! We are still watched and there are to many witnesses! Now breathe with me, take back control!" his inner self knew she was right and so he took breathes that were un needed, while her hand slipped in his and worked something far faster! By the time he looked again she wore a sly smile and he was himself. "Walk with me, see if you can keep the enterlopers out of it except curly upthere." she threw some money down for the greedy waitress who watched them leave all to closely.

Marko still getting his message, he blocked and began obnoxiously flirting, which did make both of them laugh. "And that is the reason he is not the one who gets the girls!" she said. "One of them. Now are you going to tell me what that was back there, Gia?" he asked. "An opportunity, and a test. You see the Equites Novem are the supernatural splinter group of the Sabbat, whom I know you know all to well, as you and the others spent many years violently at war with them to keep them out of your town. They are not out of your town anymore. THis group is highly funded, with hands in pots all across the supernatural spectrum. 6 of our agents were slaughtered when we were betrrayed by one of our own." the way her body slighty trembled and the way the angry air began to tear around them, he knew that this one was highly personal for her. Flashes of the same chestnut haired man he saw before and her... "I am going to use this office, I will bring down a Blood Hunt straight from the Prince of San Francisco, I will bring down the weight of Roma if I have too but I WILL find Gaiden Mose, and then I am going to discect him slowly and burn him in peices!" And all the sudden the waves of the water were becoming higher. He had been her lover, she trusted him, and this had been an important mission with some of the best agents she knew... He didn't care if she didn't welcome it, she needed it!

So he pulled her in close and steeled her. She didn't move and not one tear sled down her cheek, the brokeness was inside, from a place where all the tears were shed and revenge is what remained. "WE are going to do those things! For reasons I don't have answers for, I can't stand back and watch you die, so find another reason to go other than this! There is going to be traiters, and no you can't trust anyone outside this, our circle. And yes you are in Our Circle whether you like it or not!" she let out a sarcastic huff and looked up at him with a look that said "oh, really?" "You know I speak truth, it also doesn't bother you in the slightest, you are just to sarcastic for your own good." he countered with a slight grin. "True story." she remarked. She was slowly regaining herself. Probably thinking about the lessons she was going to be now extending to all of the Pack for whatever she was a part of. TOnight showed him it was definately goverment but it was to big and knew to much to be an leg in the FBI. This was no mere drug run tonight. Before Friday she was going to have to make a trip to the Cave and start talking! "I know I will. But right now how about I get walked back to my room and you steal as much information as David desires?" he laughed out loud. "It will be a hurt to his ego to know someone has him figured out." he said jovially as she pulled out of his grasp.

"Well, what he doesn't know, can't hurt him, can it?" she remarked. And the rest of the walk was spent joking, though he was glad she had asked. They had tails all around them and he understood even the walk and the low moment at the beach was a part of the cover and she only allowed talk because those following were probably charmed to hear something else. Which meant he would be following her into her room and having to find a way to vanish. He was really starting to like this girl! It had been far to long since he had a challenge and here it was, one laying just right in his lap! They got to the door and she let him open it. It's something Max would be dead set against. But she was Desemond de Luna, she outranked their Maker, pure and simple! Julian was vicious if matters called for it and Max had no power to be able to stop Julian from placing Santa Carla under his jurisdiction if he made a move against his daughter. Which meant this mission was in effort with the Cammaria. She would have to report ot her 'father' tonight. And that was more of her brilliance. THe local vampires in on the game are allies and not enemies. Which meant anything Max did against her, he did alone. Dwayne had to smile at the beauty of it. When they entered the rather bland and way to white room, he couldn't help but think this needed to be changed soon. She needed the fun of the cave after her daily brushes with death!

"That was a rather done imperonation of Paul there Dorian! Think it would make him proud?" she joked and they both broke down. She moved over and his jaw dropped at the bottle she pulled out of the many bar. It was not just any Scotch, but Scotch aged 1901 made in the Edinburgh underground! "I find after sucesses like this a strong drink is more than nessecery. This was a gift to me, from Arkon before he was assasinated. Julian held it in wait for my 21st birthday. It took just one shot and I got REAL aquainted with his italian marble!" and that cut anything less of the tension between them and he stood there, recieving his ancient Scotch and enjoying her company like she was one of the others! Perhaps even better, she among other things was an intellectual equal, something he hadn't had in more years then he cared to count! Tonight made him feel alive! He was a part of something again, and what did it matter that it was in the shadows? He mattered tonight! He raised a glass getting a raised eyebrow and a small smile out of Des, and beautiful woman that she was, she was obviously not understanding the effect she had on men! Was it so wrong of him to want to teach her? She went ahead and raised her glass. "To the efforts of Dorian Knight and Gia Merroe and the long demise of Sir Greasy!" her laugh truly was contagious! And there it was again, that drinking without flinching! It would make Paul crazy, he was pretty sure about that!

They spent an hour and two glasses each before she made a jaw dropping destraction and she litterally had to push him out into the air before he could get caught doing the same! Stomach burning, happy for the first time in YEARS and slightly tipsy, he made his way to the Cave to give David his report. The night's development gave them a much clearer view of who and what Desemond de Luna is. And now more than ever Dwayne wanted to be a full-fledged part of it and leave this life behind, never look back!


	3. Dancing with Death and Devils

**Chapter 3: **Dancing with Death and Devils

A minor mission comes up that Des is put on, being within the region already in between her and Dwayne's appearance for the weekend. Taking on the guise of a penetant, she goes to gather entail being passed on by Father Valens in the confession booth of the local Catholic Church, the Chapel of St. John the Baptist. The simple mission goes haywire as soon as she exits, coming under fire from a local gang hired to take her out, the Cilcians have an ax still to grind with her cover as Gia Merroe. For once not on detail, Dwayne is shocked when he is able to feel danger coming Des' way, he and the rest of the Boys come riding in. And finally they get read in on what Des is, who she works for, the offer she has been given authorization to extend to them, and covers to bring them in on the opperation she is working.

Silver glances off twirling feet

swirling hair and shifting sand

blood pumping and the visage of the mad

taking fair devils by pale hands

and laughs carried by the wind to Death who waits to greet

For a favorite daughter and loyal servant is she

and merry are the dark ones that reach out

smiling in the night as they spin her around

Enraptured by the beauty and the wildness as they take her off the ground

Bringing the Daughter of Death to dare greater things

As her Devils around her bind themselves to her person and agree

they join her but under terms she is to understand

Death she is to deal out but never take by the hand

For even demons may love and forever of the Heavens they demand

Freedom from Death by their blood, by newfound love, common destiny

-Daughter of Death & the Love of her Devils by Makilome

Desemond's POV

She awoke to the sound of her overly loud hotel phone, one that she would have to replace along with paying damages for the hole she put in the wall when she threw it entirely though the thinley laid walls. She grimaced, hating that in the middle of a time sensitive and highly volatile mission she was on, she was being put on errand duty! It's not that she didn't feel like she was to good for it, it was that running another op, no matter how brief and uncomplicated as it may be, while in the middle of another one that involved being under deep cover put both opperations in danger of crisscrossing and blowing both covers sky high! She loved Julian, she really did, but every once in a while, she wouldn't mind taking Lilly Langtree's place in smacking the hell out of him! She knew he didn't understand the life she led. If he did, she wouldn't be leading it at all, he would yank her out, bind her within the depths of Daedalus' humble abode, and prey upon the much older vampire's sense of loyalty and friendship to make sure she stayed there! And remained human. Both of them knew, she more than he as she did afterall have the sight, that it was only a matter of time before she joined the ranks of Kindred. But her and his idea on the age of reason were vastly different! And yet he would keep her under lock and key till it was time for the whole duration till that moment if he could!

She told him what was coming. And her connection to him was to strong now for him not to know the bond she was forming with others of his kind. Running with Dwayne and Marko made it quite clear to her that the Lost Boys were in her future, their destiny were now weaving into a singular pattern. Though not sired to them, the bond of the Pack grew stronger inside her every day. Her attachment grew stronger, especially to Dwayne! He was never far from her thoughts, and catching sight of him as she went about her mission had become something that brightened her darkness, gave her something to look forward to. He was quick on his feet and he was damn good on working on the fly and running a cover created out of air in a manner of less than a second! During the day, his thoughts as he slept would reach her, reach her even though she never sought them out. He made her feel things, things no other man ever had made her feel, not even the traitor whom she was hellbent on destroying! Their connection ran deep, it lived a life past this one. They had knew one another before this life. And as the days passed, she became less and less frightened of it, and of how rapid and intense the emotions they provoked in one another were. But he was not alone in his pull upon a heart she fought died when Arkan had.

David has a pull of his own. It awoke the soldier in her, the commander that had to sacrafice her chance at a human life to save her men in the horrid wasteland of the Middle-East when the Assamites had come to feast! They shared the burden of command of knowing what it was like to send your men, men you have come to admire, who respected and depended on you to get them in, out, and back home out into the night knowing that most of them were not coming back. Sending men you cared for to their deaths was something you never got over. It did not matter whether or not it was for the Greater Good! They had to balance the wildness, the Predator inside that would roam the world, untouchable and free to dance the dance of death with the very real responsibilities they had to take care of the men under them and make sure they didn't do anything that would get them all killed. They spoke mainly through thoughts, and for the first time in more years than he cared to count, he had someone whom he could trust to share the burden of leadership with him. He respected her power, was awed by the blood of the great Roman that ran in her veins, and delighted in seeing someone, a human, so seperate, detached from the times and the people that ran around her. Unlike Dwayne, he had yet to say it, but she knew in the end what his price of joining Shadow Keepers would be.

He wanted her with them, not just till her time had come up. He wanted her to be a part of them, forever. He only knew peace, knew any form of hope when she was there with him. And through her, his own destiny awaited him in the form of his mysterious dark haired Hunter. And then there was Paul, who never ceased to make her grin and laugh outloud just at the mere thought of the man! He was a pervert of a high order, with just enough charm and striking looks to be able to get away with it! And he abused the privlidge often, with every pretty girl in sight! But when he was on watch with Dwayne, his eyes never, ever left her form. He traveled down her body, a thousand thoughts filled with passion, many that were surprisingly highly romantic and showed a gentle, tender side of him she knew the others never saw. He desired far more than to fuck her. Every touch he could manage to steal sent electricity though the both of them, and he had come to crave that feeling. He would loose himself to the point that he became useless as an information gatherer on herself, but it gave her this feeling, this sense of being worshipped as a woman in that man's heart. And she liked it! She liked it that both he and Dwayne had this way about them that made her feel like she was the most beautiful woman in the room, the only one that mattered beyond sport sex and a blood bag.

And Marko, he was her Cherub, her sweet one. He never complained aloud, never tormented himself to deeply about what he had lost, but he held on to what he had left of his humanity with a death grip! He had lost so much of that, especially of late from the cruel rejection of the only Pack member she had yet to meet, Star. He had openly given her a place in his heart, even though he had been against David turning her, giving her the benefit of the doubt and she, in her very mortal, prejudical heart could not find it within her to return that openess, that willingness to love. She never saw past what they were to who they were. And for someone who cherished the humanity he still had, it had been crushing to him for her not to even try to reach out and see it! Des had given him something since she had arrived that made him forever in awe of her. Not just a purpose, a way to matter in a world unaware of beings like him, but a connection back into that humanity. He had a simple, pure, and strong love for her, had embraced her in all her darkness, her blood stained and tainted soul that had dealt in so much death and unending war. Someone constrained, human though she still was, to the shadows no different than he. And she was to understand, he had every intention on keeping her. He wasn't going to be letting her go.

Any mission she was on, whether they could join her ranks or not, he was going to be there, ready to take the bullets, kill everyone if need be, and run her out if she was harmed. Her regular guardian devil. Her rather long talk with Julian had gone a course that she didn't quite imagine, but illuminated her pull to them, especially to her Native. Kindred became creatures of fate in the way regular humans never have been. Their destiny was woven into a secret pattern into the world, and with each of them, there was bound to them someone meant to share with them their burden of the world. Someone that once they meet, they will never walk away from. That person became their light, their sun in a world of never ending night, who's life they valued beyound all price. Their mate, the person destined to become their beloved! And though not common, those who carried the blood of Lilith, the first of all mages in their veins, as she did, were those mates. For the descendents of Lilith were bound to fate every bit as much as vampires, and for her, for whom she was and who she called father, it was almost beyond all doubt that she had a mate, maybe more than one. Also not unheard of. And ever since that first connection, that first night Dwayne saved her life, a powerful, uncontrollable pull that she had no power to resist came over her.

Not one night had gone by since then that she hadn't dreamed of him. And now she was beginning to understand how it was that he provoked those deep, and intense feelings inside her. She never had let anyone in like him, though now Paul and Marko were getting closer. The walls evaporated between them both like they never existed. She enjoyed her work, believed in her mission, had faith in her Cause again because he had faith in it, he wanted desperately to be a part of it! And he wanted her, more and more all the time. Like her he had fought it for a while, and now was also testing it. But if it was true, their resistance wouldn't last very long. Whoever said there was no love at first sight did not run in the circles that they ran in. She knew that just like Marko, though it wasn't even a concious thought, he would never, ever let her out of his line of sight when on mission. Her life was precious to him, and sooner or later, fear for her and knowledge of her recklessness and the dangers of the life she led would lead him to turn her. And she knew that should it come, she wasn't going to fight him. She had been preparing for that life for a very long time. And Julian, he was 100% sure of who he was to her. He didn't like it, but he had no power to stop it, either. "Whether either of us would have it or not, you and him are destined. You will become his mate, his eternal bride sooner or later. And as more time passes, the greater the desire for him to consumate that matehood and be joined to you as One will become.

Your own desires will be magnified, they will mirrior one another. It's not unheard of to have more than one mate. The others will be the same, but this connection, there is only one time I have known it's equal, Des." she sighed. Julian had been driven mad by the Brujah murder of Catelyn, his human mate. The only thing that kept him from walking out into the sun had been her and Sasha. And it remained the only reason why he continued now. He needed her, and it killed him to have the confirmation now that her change was inevitable. He wanted her to have a human life, the life he never got to have. But Des had not been made for the life of being a wife and raising children. She was a soldier, a witch priestess, an assassin who's connection to the night ran long and deep. But this call was more than one of both hope, and her father's despair. There was a time sensitive opperation going on, something that had to do with foreign Qui-Gin out of the Far-East seeking to stake out Cammaria territory in San Francisco had him tearing his hair out by the roots! Something about the energy vampires troubled Julian deeply. Their take over of New York had shook up the entirety of the Masquerade, and their were rumors going round that an alliance might be made with the Eviqetes Novem in order to take out the Cammaria for good!

There were no words for the catrasphe that would cause! It would be the end of the Masquerade, and it would not be long before it would be open season on all supernaturals world wide! He had a agent who had took on the cover of a traitor of the Cammaria who had managed to get deep in with the greater head of all the Qui-Gin, a descendent of Ghangis Khan. They were using a trust worthy priest who transferred to Santa Carla out of the local San Francisco diocese a few years back acting as the Church's go between. Long ago, Arkan had managed by some miracle to not only stop the violence between the Church and Kindred, but later managed to shift it into a alliance as the Sabbat got more and more out of control and gained members of the Watch Towers to call up the Fallen from out of the Pit and into the physical world. That same church feared the Qui-Gin and their rapid rise to power. So they were acting as the go between agents, passing the information on through their multiple and untraceable channels to Julian and the Princes across the cities of the United States and the United Kingdom. She would have to make a trip now as herself, use Julian's code word to get the information from Father Valens under the cover of the Confessional. If it hadn't been for the timing, she would have been happy to go.

Witch priest as she was, the heart of a Catholic still beated in Desemond de Luna, as much as it still did in Julian himself. And it had been long sense she knew the comfort of attending a mass or going to confession. The night hours she had kept to run her mission had only just begun to get easier, thanks in a large part to her constant and very lovely shadows. But this was a solo run, she didn't feel the need to involve them in a routine pick up, disguise, and drop. It was beautiful out, an hour just before sunset, giving her time to actually see the seaside town in it's corrupted glory in a way she hadn't had the luxury yet to do, so she left on foot, making sure she was light on weapons. She had always been uncomfortable on violating the sancity of the Church by having to carry weapons within hallowed walls for protection. But she never forgot who and what she was and anything could happen, anywhere, at any time, and be caused by anyone. Gaiden had retaught her that, painfully. She understood all to well now that she could trust no one, not even those who worked under Julian, except for the the coven that had pulled her in like a magnant in less time than she ever imagined such a thing could happen. She wore her platform boots with the easily activated small blade on the inside with steam punk buckles that concealed weapon ready and deadly pins.

Spelled small blades strapped and hidden in places only Paul would proabably think to look, she dressed to kill, in a short, one shoulder bearing tunic dress of midnight blue with silver accents that clipped the single shoulder to a beautiful drape that reached below the hymn to the back of her knee that was matched with a daring belt. Just above the daring cut of the shouler to her bust the dress had a sheer look with the embroidery in the style of lace. Past that designs and swirls that accented her frame were sewn in with a darker shade of the same color. Her hair was half pinned up with a braid that circled her crown like a head band before draping into smaller braids feeding into a silver hair pin in the form of a sleeping dragon, same as the clip on her shoulder holding the top together along with the back drape. The rest fell, longer than usual due to being straightened and feeling lighter than air. She was daring and artful with her make-up, eye shadow mirrioring the hour just before twilight with black eyeliner drawing vines and swirls. The blush was light and her lipstick was dark, a near purple color. It was the look "Gia" was known for, and now that she was working that cover, she had to start working into the part. She couldn't be running around the town now in her usual clothing, the Weres would sense something was off.

They were up and out in force on various places in the town and along the Boardwalk. Those she came across as she enjoyed the breeze and the changing lights as sunset drew closer and closer she made sure to give a knowing wink, and some of Knox's men that she knew she blew kisses to and gave the pervy comments and smirking smile she was known and beloved for among his circles. When she reached the Chapel of St. John the Baptist she had been astonished at the beauty of the place! Though small, the designs were intricate, and worked in some old and lovely styling known so well by the older churches turned mosqes in the Middle East as well as the gothic carvings and engravings of vines, with a daring and lovely one representing the Heavenly spheres that made her throat tighten. Two statues, both modern but with rennisance sensibility and influence stood 7 feet tall, in loving detail with the crowns of fresh flowers with pink orchids and yellow, blue, and pink roses about the Holy Mother and a standing set of a collection of white and red flowers about the feet and strung around the shoulders of Saint John the Baptist. On the wall hanging above them, behind the altar and the cabinent baring the day's holy erucharist, a great crucifix of marble hung.

And the realistic artist showed the pure emotion on Christ, showering the looker with his physical pain, his great burden, and the pity had love he bore for the lost. The message was one lost on Prostetants, to those like her this showed how greatly Christ loved those lost in the misery of sin, oppresion, and ignorance of God. So great was that love that he was willing to suffer the ultimate price, feeling not only his own very real physical agony, but in his breif moment of abandonment on the Cross he felt the weight of the sorrow, the pain, and the despair of a lost world and he so took this path, that he may redeem that pain, and bring forth Light into the world, and in her heart she believed that even the sons of Cain were not exempt, in that death they too could embrace that Love, and find grace again. She couldn't linger long, she dabbed her eyes and pushed back her thoughts of magick, that she believed was God's gift to be used to protect and save others, the reason she did what she did, and headed for the confessional. "Forgive me father, for I have sinned. It has been 1 year since my last confession. I am a daughter to a penitent son of the Church in San Francisco that bares the Mark and a guardian of Men." the code given, the priest spoke. "Bless you child and servent of the Holy Archangel Saint Gabriel! Hail and merry met, peace be upon thee, for you have found favor with God and your task is blessed in his light." she smiled.

Father Valens was still a masterful agent! Underneath the cloth part of the confessional that he kept instead of a screen, a slender envelope bearing a floppy disc was slid across to her. "Tell he who bares the Mark that God smiles on the undertakings of the peacemakers and stands with all those who bare their swords against the forces of the Serpent. His brother in New York made it out alive and is gathering his faithful about him. More word will be given as our Brother in Christ learns more about the plans of the Enemy. Go forth of light heart. For God has gifted you with what you long have sought for in vain, Desemond Bianca de Luna. You have the love of your newfound faithful, and they shall never depart from you, nor turn aside. A vision of the Lord tells me all will be revealed to you of the heart of the young Marked son soon. Know this, understanding has come, and he loves you to deeply to hide it from you much longer. Time matters not when God destines certain hearts to become One, and one of his lonely Guardians he gives the gift of being a bride." Father Valens had the gift of the Sight, that served the Cammaria many years for the good of the City. She quivered, heart clenched, filled with a thousand emotions at once. He was telling her that Dwayne wasn't just connected and becoming more attracted to her.

Julian had been right, and the Native was meant to be hers, and she his, and now that she knew he was truly falling in love with her, she knew the truth. She did belong to the Pack, and they would come into this with her. Her own Sight of being turned would come, far sooner than she ever imagined! A joy, overwhelming gratefulness filled her, and she spent a few moments in the confession box to master herself before she exited. And as soon as she did, there was something else she felt. Something was off! It wasn't something she could pinpoint as easily as the weres or her own kind or sabbat vampires. It was a tainted pulse, fantical, enraged and feeled with an estatic joy known to serial killers and assassins! Only a human with violate so much the steps of holy ground with blood of another human, blood of Lilith or not! She couldn't get a feel for how many of them there were, and her scant clothing gave her only enough to wear a breast plate underneath and over her heart. She had to exit the church, but the emotions of the elated blood thirst of a human being became over whelming as she drew closer to the door. She pulled on the sacred energy of the Holy Host from inside, and the power of her Patron goddess as she pulled, for the first time, on the power of her bond with the Pack.

She filled herself with the brim till she could feel and see the energy crackling around her. About her person she created a seal of Solomon, and activating the pins she slowly pulled them out of her boots and walked out of the building. Gunfire was heard immediately! she jumped out of the way, scraping her leg on the pavement before building her shield and aiming the first pin at the top of the building of a bar right across the street from the Chapel. She smiled hearing the sound of a scream, by intonation she had got him and he had fallen. But more gathered around the edges. She was outnumbered and outgunned. She could not use magick this visably out in the open other than protective, and she could pull on only one of those energies without end. She filled her hands will as many pins as she could and dove to the side with a tuck, taking cover and using magick to get a visual. It was 9-1 and they were doped to the gills, something she could work with, but they were moving in for the ambush and the lust she provoked by defiance and her dress showed her what they meant to do to her. She was filled with anger. Big mistake! One came from behind, grabbed a hold of her waist and pulled her against a chest of solid muscle with stinking breath and a sickening voice whispering twisted things! The others closed in. She took out another with a well-aimed kick, slashing his throat. She broke another's hand and fought well, till she felt the cold metal of a semi-automaticslide across her bare shoulder to just above her heart.

So she did the one thing she could think of. She pulled with all her might on her connection to Dwayne, it was the most powerful she had and he wouldn't second guess anything till he got her out! She hoped to God he was awake! She had to get out of this and protect the priests! "Hellcat, now you know better than that! We just want to have a little fun, if you are nice we may even let your pet Church go free and leave you alive, to send your pet Weres a message!" without warning, one of the others, to ensure her not moving, put a warning shot through her bare shoulder, blinding her with pain and sending her screams though the night.

Dwayne's POV

He had just woken, when he felt it. Like a gunshot through his left arm! He felt rage, determination, there was a power that cackled that couldn't be unleashed... He swore and prayed to a GOd he hadn't spoke to in years "Please don't let it be Des, please God! And a cold panic paired with an uncontrallabe rage shot through him when with painful clarity he caught the image of the CHapel of St. John the Baptist, a block from the Boardwalk, 8 men, Des, blindingly beautiful, with a gushing wound out in the open locked with gang bangers intent on rape right there on the Church steps, and something, highly important for Julian! He let out a painful roar that sent all the Boys running. "We've got no time, the bastards got Des, she's shot and loosing blood, fast! She's outnumbered, and out in the open so she can't use her magick to kill! She is at the Chapel, you know the one! It was supposed to be an easy peasy mission!" right now he wanted to murder the Prince of San Francisco, slowly and painfully, but more than that, building panic about Des over rode everything! He had to get to her! He had to get her out! She was loosing to much to fast, it made her to weak to physically fight and the pain was to much to start a fight she could win! He jumped on his bike, not knowing except for the uncompanying roar and a surprising rage coming out of Paul that the others were right behind him!

He used his link to her, that precious link, to keep her awake, keep her fighting, keep her alive till he could get there. "_Des hold on, do you hear me?! Don't you dare die on me! I can't lose you! You cant' die! You fight like that crazy bitch I know you are! Please! Please! You have to stay with me! You have to stay with me! Tell me you hear me!"_ he was loosing his mind, pushing his bike well past it's intended limits with his own power, all the others doing the same. _"Native?! Hurry! I'm loosing blood, fast! I can hold for a little longer, but I can't push to hard... Please..."_ relief and more anxiety! There was going to be a blood bath, and the Father was just going to have to forgive him! As he rode over the Boardwalk, her blood hitting the air, in his panic everything was getting rather clear to him. His intense emotions, they had a name! He knew he was strongly attracted, but now she was the only woman in the world to him that mattered, her beauty outshined the den, her strength, her skills at what she did. Even as she fought when he caught a visual, she was so lovely, a tower of strength and power made vulnerable because of Paradox... But even as her eyes were glazed she killed another one, a butterfly knife shoved into the throat, an artful duck that led her to the ground. "_Stay down, my God you have too! Take a dive! We're here!"_ there was a wave of elation and then power, magickal power that swept him and his brothers.

Endowing them with a gift of enhancing their already enhanced physical abilities. She couldn't blow them away with her power but she could transfer it! He tore off his bike, pinning the man against the church step and ripping his head off clean by his hair! He put a round through his body with his own gun. Make it look like gang violence! He got through to her, and she was the only damn thing in the world at that moment that mattered! She held on to conciousness by sheer will power. He ripped into his jacket and she screamed when he bound the wound to stop the bleeding. He brushed her hair back, stared into her beautiful eyes. "You've got to hold on for me, alright? We can fix this, but you must stay awake! Stay with me!" he felt his eyes water, weekly a hand went to his face. He laced his fingers into hers and refused to look away while his brothers finished around him. "We can make this never be a fear again, we can make you not know or taste death. Let us give it to you! Hold on to me, hold on and we'll go home, and we'll take you, you'll be one of us! We aren't letting you leave, you hear me?" she gave him a small smile, before she arched with pain. He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. "Tell me you'll take the blood!" he half screamed, half cried. Conserving strength she spoke silently. _"I am already part of you, am I not?"_ and he knew she wasn't referring to the rest of them.

He knew what she was asking. She had to know! They could go as slow as they needed but she needed to know. "Yes you are!" it was forceful, and he felt it with all his being. Like she was another living part of him, and this great desire to be reunited with the other part was so strong... He started the bike and he raced like hell, taking every short cut he knew! They all moved as one, Paul right beside him, taking a hold of her hand with a desperate look he never saw on his face before. "Be with us, you have too Kitten, you have to! I can't see you in pain like this!" she squeezed back. "The wound...it's not fatal... But it was inevitable. When Arkan died, I knew. Give me the blood!" her voice was stronger, the magick was finally being able to work! Relief and a long dead faith filled him. "It will be done. The bottle Marko!" David commanded. Dwayne continued to hold her in his lap. He felt her becoming stronger. He ran his hand up and down soft skin. "I'm sitting you up, ok?" he said. "Yeah, but you have to support me, it's eatting my power to push the bullet out." he facepalmed himself before undoing the wrap and looked in amazement as the bullet did pop out, but the wound did not reknit itself, the blood came out slower. He pulled her up slightly, but pulled her close, reassuring himself that she was here, and she was saying yes, and he would never have to go through this again!

Paul took the bottle from Marko and uncorked it. "Slow and easy Kitten." his voice was so gentle... Another shock! He poured it down and it was hard for her to gulp so he reached up and massaged her throat. "Swallow, swallow for me baby!" and she did, she took the whole thing down, and finally the wound began to reknit. It felt like he could breathe again! She regained strength, and David wiped the blood away, only a vicious scar left. She had a smile on her face and she gave Paul a look. "So, am I still a hot bitch?" she joked. She never saw him wipe the tears from his face, but Dwayne did! "Hotter still, Kitten! My God you scare the shit out of me sometimes! But tonight is a night of victory and celebration! Welcome offically into the Pack, Des!" he pulled her up by her hands and she laughed. "You've been practicing that haven't you?" she teased, all of them wore goofy smiles. "You know I have!" he said in that pervy voice that was pure Paul. Marko hit the rockbox and Paul pulled her into a close dance. "I want in, Desemond de Luna, so start talking!" he said even as he spun her. They were interupted by a scream and a look of horror. Dwayne rolled his eyes. "Oh dear God Star! She did it of her own free will, knowing fully well what we are and of what we are capeable, better than anyone! So don't throw a shit fit!" Marko had been the most hurt by Star.

Des was everything to him in her short time with them that Star wasn't! She was so damn strong that apparently a bullet couldn't stop her from offing half of her attackers before they got there! "Star, I know you don't wish this for you. But this is my choice. And they are making theirs. If you ask it, they will show you how to beat your hunger and leave you with Michael. I have been authorized to offer them all spots inside the CIA unit known as the Shadow Keepers, made up of mages, were-creatures, elementals, phsyics, mediums, and our very first vampire recruits." Paul stopped dancing and stared at her. David's jaw actually dropped and Dwayne couldn't move for a second he was in profound shock while Marko smiled. "Makes perfect sense to me! I told you the CIA knew everything!" he facepalmed himself. His brother was a conspiracy nut... TO have this confirmed meant years of gloating! "Do you have any idea how cool you fucking are Des?! CIA, a witch... And run that last part by me again! She laughed. "The Lost Boys, made up of David Benton, Marcus Drech, Paul Eusteppe, and Iyokpaza Hanhepi-wi are to be offered positions at the Order of the Shadow Keepers, to make up a special team with Desemond de Luna in regards to anything involving the activities of supernatural creatures that make up the terror group known as the Sabbat and it's splinter group Equites Novem, effective immediatly.

"Upon accepting, they are to be fully briefed on the current mission, and the following one, sending agents Desemond and Iyokpaza on a solo mission to Japan and the others to work directly with Prince Julian Luna working all together to uncover the connection of the Qui-Gin to said splinter group and determine if they are an enemy of the United States." Star's eyes grew large, and the group that followed her, those Frogg boys and Michael, were in shock. "I'm in!" Paul yelled, whooped, and then picked Des up off the ground. "I accept this offer." Dwayne said with an elated grin. This was what he had been waiting for! "Yes, I accept, on grounds you two after we clean up this mess call me daily!" David said with all the growling of a father bear that made him and Des both giggle. She looked back up at those seeking to take them out. "We all share a common enemy to our freedom, and our peaceful and bloodless departure from this place depends now on the decisions you make. Choose to beat the thirst, or help us destroy the true head vampire, and return to your human state." Dwayne addressed the unwelcome visitors. "But I thought he..." the younger brother, pointing at David started. "I lead this group of misfits, but I am not the head, not yet. Max is our common problem. To you amature hunters I say this, we will leave you your little town, won't even seek revenge for what might have been our final deaths.

In return, you help us take out the real problem, and real threat to your friend's family." David replied. Star continued to stare mystified at Des. "What did you do to them?" she asked, half accusing. "What you wouldn't, I accepted them for who they were, seeing past what they were. Kindred are not the monsters you paint them to be. I would know, my father is Julian Luna, the Prince of San Francisco. And in blood I descend from the ancient Arkan." the Frogg brothers' mouths dropped! "So it's true! I knew it!" Edgar shouted with the triumph of an obsessed looney tune. He bit down a laugh. It would take one hell of a hunter to take down Julian! God knows it had been tried multiple times! And anyone who did had to deal with his second in command, and no one in their right mind wanted to fuck with an 1500 year old Nosferatu! Maybe they will do them all a favour and get killed by their own stupidity! "Now, as he said, decisions. Michael, you want this to stop? It can go away. No muss no fuss, like we were never here. But first, we take out Max. Are you in?" Des turned that rather great power of both charm and authority on and wore it like a cloak, penetrating even the thick thog of the Froggs stupidity. "Yes, we'll meet tomorrow, and we'll talk about ending Max." he had Star nodding, still in shock her agreement.

They left, and another bottle, that of Paul's stash of vodka was quickly out and presented to Des. "To the woman of the hour goes the first shot!" he declared! She gave him a wicked smile and shared a conspiritual wink with Dwayne. She took it down, no flinch, no grimace, with a staring and highly appreciative Paul! "Holy shit woman!" and finally he let out the laugh he was holding in!


End file.
